There is nothing wrong with giving gifts to friends no matter what it is. However other people seeing these exchanges might get the wrong idea. Why not send the gifts to their home or PO boxes a few days before you arrive, or when you get home this way the gift won't cause any conflicts.

It take months sometimes to receive mail in Jamaica. They will charge custom charges on them. Sometimes up to 200% on some items. They wont be able to pay for them. I'm talking from experience. I have shipped cars, equipment and many other things to Jamaica. Some by freight, mail and luggage.

We did send a gardener we became friends with a small care package of his family and the shipping was so much we could only send a little. We want to help his family again with some hand me downs for the kids and it would cost 150 for what we can bring in part of a checked in bag.

Dave and Terri, the tablet comment was a joke! As I said, she will love anything you bring for her kids. To Lotsastuff4u - thank you - I totally agree with you. What sits in our closet unused and eventually gets discarded could be appreciated by one of our Ja friends. No harm in this from my point of view. And as you have said, I get the same amazing service as everyone else, and that's why we keep coming back. We are greeted each visit with Welcome Home, so why can't we take a gift to a friend back home! To Jamaican Junkie - maybe you should read other threads if you don't like this one. Or, maybe you should try to make some friends with some wonderful people who put their heart and soul into their work at CSS, and chill out.

Dave and Terri, the tablet comment was a joke! As I said, she will love anything you bring for her kids. To Lotsastuff4u - thank you - I totally agree with you. What sits in our closet unused and eventually gets discarded could be appreciated by one of our Ja friends. No harm in this from my point of view. And as you have said, I get the same amazing service as everyone else, and that's why we keep coming back. We are greeted each visit with Welcome Home, so why can't we take a gift to a friend back home! To Jamaican Junkie - maybe you should read other threads if you don't like this one. Or, maybe you should try to make some friends with some wonderful people who put their heart and soul into their work at CSS, and chill out.

I do care for the wonderful people of Jamaica. I bring supplies every time we go and leave them at the front desk to distribute to those in need. And I also contribute to the Couples ISSA Trust Foundation. And I do make friends with the wonderful people at Couples. But while we are on the resort, we are guests and they are employees, and we are responsible for abiding by the policies that Couples has put in place. If you choose not to acknowledge that passing gifts worth a substantial amount to specific employees while at the resort is a way to circumvent the No Tipping Policy, then that is your choice. To me, that is not any different than handing $100 to a friend/employee in need. I certainly don't have any issue with giving gifts or cash to friends, but, in my opinion, neither of those should take place at the resort or stated on the message board as being acceptable to do at the resort.

By the way...this is a public message board, and we all have the right to voice our opinions, whether you agree with them or not. Try to remain respectful.

My wife and I have been coming to San Souci for 8 years now, soon to be our 9th. We have dealt with this issue all the time. We were told of employees being terminated because $$ were left in the room after check out and the employee did not report it. Ask and you will find all the employees are thrilled to have this job in a country with very few. Especially very few employers that take some kind of care of the employees. We were there during hurricane Sandy and the staff was unbelievable. Many stayed on site to be sure we were taken care of. But, as a former owner of a mid-sized company, rules are rules. There are a number of ways to 'compensate' the employees. Give to the foundation to support all the kids in Jamaica. Send a nice letter with a check to management to be distributed to all staff. So, in closing, as much as I would love to give an old laptop to one employee, it simply is not fair. And to put that employee in jeopardy of losing his/her lively hood is horrible.

Back at our HOME at CSS tomorrow. 6 bags full of stuff. School supplies, shoes, Gifts and more. GOOD thing we get 3 bags each flying FIRST CLASS. It's going to be a GREAT 10 days at CSS.
Most of it is for old friends here in Jamaica. Not at Couples. It's so hard to find stuff here in Jamaica. In my Grand Lido Braco days I would come down with 10 to 12 70lb bags. That was a little crazy.

It would be such a shame for one of these workers that we like so well to lose one of the best jobs in Jamaica just because we 'want to give them something' as a thank you. Perhaps you should give the gift 'tablet' to management with a note hoping that employee gets it, or let them decide who should get it. That would include the 'back of the house' workers also. Just a thought.